Displaying items by tag: Lagan Search & Rescue

27th May 2021

Lagan Search & Rescue in Dementia Action Week Training at Belfast Harbour

Lagan Search and Rescue and Officers of the Belfast Harbour Police took part recently in Dementia Action week with Awareness training delivered by Belfast City Council on behalf of the Alzheimer's Society Northern Ireland to equip both volunteers and Officers with the skills to engage and communicate more effectively with people with Dementia and provide support for those who are most vulnerable.

Lagan SAR is a provider of Independent Lifeboat and Water Search, Rescue and Recovery Service, based in Belfast Harbour Marina. It operates on the River Lagan, which flows through Belfast into Belfast Lough.

The volunteers were pleased to take part. " Thanks to Belfast City Council for providing this valuable training!".

Published in Belfast Lough

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Lagan Search & Rescue

Belfast Harbour Extends its Support for Lagan Search & Rescue

Lagan Search & Rescue in Belfast Harbour

Belfast Harbour has pledged support to Lagan Search & Rescue to the tune of £100,000 (€110,000) over the next five years, as the News Letter reports.

The arrangement includes continued provision of an operations base and lifeboat berths for the agency’s search and rescue services to the River Lagan and Belfast Lough.

A recent boost to the volunteer-run service was the addition of a new eight-metre lifeboat, funded in part by Belfast Harbour and the Northern Ireland Department for Transport’s Inshore/Inland Rescue Boat Grant Fund.

The News Letter has more on the story HERE.

Published in Belfast Lough

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour